Eat me, Michael: 98% of EMC shareholders back Dell mega-gobble

World's biggest tech merger is on

EMC shareholders have voted overwhelmingly to accept Dell's $60bn plus offer to merge the two companies into a new entity called Dell Technologies.

At a special shareholder meeting at EMC's Hopkinton, Massachusetts, headquarters, 98 per cent of those present, representing 78 per cent of the shareholders, voted to approve the biz gobble. The only regulatory loophole the two companies now have to jump through is the Chinese government's approval of the deal.

"The Board and I care very deeply about, and have worked diligently to represent, what we believe is the best outcome for all stakeholders. I want to thank our shareholders for their support, as well as our customers and partners. My special thanks to the talented people of EMC for their hard work, dedication and passion."

The merger plans have already received the blessing of regulators in the EU and US, and with Dell now a private company, the deal is on. All that remains is the problem of whether or not Dell can stump up the cash for the buyout without crippling itself.

Ever since the merger was announced, Dell has been slicing off parts of itself in an attempt to cut costs and streamline into a full-service data center, cloud and storage company.

Last month Dell sold off its software division to private equity firms for a rumored $2bn, while in March it sold Perot Systems to NTT Data at a loss, earning itself $3bn in cash for the merger. It also IPOed SecureWorks in April, although that only raised $112m.

Michael Dell has said he is confident the deal will go through and funding shouldn't be that much of an issue. But the new firm will be loaded with debt and will need to convince customers that it can do the job in the future. ®